Automotive manufacturers have traditionally offered spare tires with the fleet of vehicles they produce. In the early days of automobiles the spare tire was mounted externally on either the running board or on a rear-mounted tire carrier. To comply with advances in styling the spare tire was concealed, most typically being moved inside the vehicle's trunk. While this arrangement provided a suitable solution for placement of the spare tire for decades, the demand for increased space for luggage and the like coupled with changes in fuel economy requirements dictating the need for vehicle weight reduction forced manufacturers to consider the vehicle anew in its entirety as they sought ways to increase trunk space and reduce vehicle weight. One answer to the effort to reduce overall vehicle weight was to replace the conventional, large and bulky road tire with a smaller temporary tire or “donut.”
While the temporary tire represented a significant increase in trunk space as well as a decrease in overall vehicle weight, the further improvement in tire design and durability as well as the concurrent general improvement in roadways has gradually begun to reduce the need for relying on a spare tire at all. Today the on-the-road emergency changing of a tire is a relatively rare event. It is now very possible for a spare tire to last the life of the vehicle without ever being replaced, although this is certainly not the preferred practice.
In response to these advances in both tire technology and road quality, vehicle auto manufacturers have begun to substitute a “temporary mobility kit” (or “TMK”) for the spare tire. The TMK includes a dual-purpose air compressor and a sealing system. The sealing system includes a sealing compound that will effectively seal most punctures caused by nails or similar objects. The air compressor drives the sealing compound into the compromised tire and, subsequently, can be used to reinflate the tire once the sealing compound has been introduced into the tire and the leak has been sealed. The growing trend today is for manufacturers to equip the vehicle with a temporary mobility kit in lieu of the spare tire, often locating the TMK in the spare tire well in the trunk.
One of the difficulties of known temporary mobility kits is the inconvenience and impracticality of arrangements for storing the cord and for maintaining the plug in a convenient place when the unit is not in use. Today it is known to provide a space in which both the cord and the power plug can be inserted or a space for the power plug alone. Typically these spaces are very small and work well only when the temporary mobility kit is new from the factory and has not yet been used. Once the TMK has been used, it is challenging for the average user to refit the cord and the plug into the small space.
While providing clear advantages over the weight demands of the spare tire as well as providing the vehicle operator with a practical alternative over the demands of tire changing, as in most every area of vehicle technology temporary mobility kits are in a continuing state of development.